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LOS ANGELES >> Dodgers manager Dave Roberts assured reporters that Yasiel Puig’s ankle was not keeping the right fielder out of Sunday’s lineup. Puig was caught stealing second base to end Saturday night’s game, a 2-1 loss.

CARSON — They knelt together, stood arm in arm, and raised clenched fists as the anthem played. Their statement of solidarity resounded across the league, from Los Angeles to Denver, from Cleveland to Indianapolis, from Houston to Atlanta, and across the Atlantic, where the most politically divisive day in NFL history began with the league’s only Muslim owner, Shahid Khan, standing together with Jaguars players and coaches, of all races and beliefs.

STANFORD >> The four white walls could not shield Jim Mora. The jubilant cheers of Stanford players and fans celebrating their 10th straight victory over UCLA seeped into the head coach’s postgame news conference room as Saturday night turned into Sunday morning at Stanford Stadium.

MINNEAPOLIS >> Chelsea Gray got a sliver of daylight and let a 14-foot jumper fly with Game 1 of the WNBA Finals and what would have been a dubious piece of history for the Sparks hanging in the balance.

HOUSTON >> Andrew Heaney said he is ready to pitch. The Angels left-hander threw off a mound for the first time since coming out of a game two weeks ago with what was diagnosed as shoulder inflammation.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. >> Daniel Salloi and Diego Rubio each scored in the first half, and Sporting Kansas City beat the Galaxy 2-1 on Sunday to move within one point of first-place Vancouver in the Western Conference.

Kyle Busch earned a berth in the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs with a dominant victory Sunday at New Hampshire Motorspeedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Busch slipped through smoke from a multi-car crash on the backstretch that knocked out Martin Truex Jr.

LOS ANGELES >> For a brief moment Sunday, it appeared Clayton Kershaw had entered an obstacle course. When the Giants’ Gorkys Hernandez inadvertently flung his bat toward the mound on a swing-and-miss in the eighth inning, Kershaw could only go up to avoid the projectile.

CARSON >> Even after relocation and a coaching change, this remains true: The Chargers will only go as far as Philip Rivers takes them. On Sunday, that reality did not look reassuring. In their second game at StubHub Center, the Chargers fell to Kansas City, 24-10 — dropping to 0-3 for the first time since 2003.

CARSON >> Melvin Gordon had his best game of the year on Sunday. Now, the Chargers need him healthy enough for an encore. The third-year tailback was one of the bright spots in a 24-10 loss to Kansas City, turning 17 carries into 79 yards and a touchdown.

CARSON >> On the north sideline, Kansas City’s’ Marcus Peters looked at the ground and held up a fist, with teammate Roy Miller holding up Peters’ arm. On the south sideline, five Chargers sat on a metal bench when the anthem was played, and Casey Hayward also raised a fist.

COWBOYS AT CARDINALS Kickoff: 5:30 p.m., ESPN Outlook: Dallas loafed its way through last week’s loss against Denver, like Ezekiel Elliott chasing down an interception. That won’t be the case this week against an Arizona offense that just isn’t the same without David Johnson.

Clay Helton began his weekly teleconference on Sunday evening by acknowledging one of USC’s characteristics of the early season. “You’re very, very happy again when you see a team finishing in the fourth quarter,” said Helton, the Trojans’ coach, “That’s kind of been our hallmark.

HOUSTON >> For one day, the Angels stopped the bleeding. After losing six in a row and seeing their playoff chances fade, they beat the Houston Astros, 7-5, on Sunday night to restore a sliver of hope.

ANAHEIM >> Many have done so but Giovanni Fiore hadn’t and it might have felt as if he possessed the winning lottery ticket. It was Saturday afternoon when Fiore learned that he would play with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry in the Ducks’ Sunday night exhibition against the Vegas Golden Knights, taking passes from them and trying to do what he can to extend a lengthy stay in the team’s training camp.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump used Twitter Friday to slam Sen. Rand Paul and other Republicans who might oppose the GOP’s last-gasp effort to topple the Obama health care law. Paul fired back, calling the Senate bill “fake repeal” and saying the White House just wants a victory without caring about the legislation’s details.

Does Sean McVay have bad weather to credit for his job as head coach of the Rams? Probably not. So impressed were the Rams with McVay after their initial interview in early January that they didn’t want to lose out on him, and quickly brought him back for a second chat.

If this is indeed Alex Smith’s final season in Kansas City, he’s certainly making it count. The veteran quarterback has looked like a different player in his 12th professional campaign, subverting his game-manager reputation with 9.

PHILADELPHIA >> It is roughly 2,400 miles from Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park to the Dodgers’ training complex in Glendale, Ariz. But Pedro Baez might have covered that distance with 36 mostly errant pitches in the seventh inning Tuesday night.

LOS ANGELES >> There was a lot of extra work going on at USC after Tuesday’s practice. Quarterback Sam Darnold threw passes to a quartet of wide receivers. Offensive coordinator Tee Martin worked with a group of receivers in a corner of the field.

Intriguing, suspenseful and Santa Claus-fat with jolly surprises. The NBA was all those things and more this summer. All those things and more, unfortunately, soon to be set aside, the league again insisting on dulling things down by playing actual basketball games.

ANAHEIM >> This week’s series at Angel Stadium gives Andrelton Simmons a chance to see one of the shortstops he most admires. “He’s the type of shortstop that I would create,” Simmons said of the Cleveland Indians’ Francisco Lindor.

ANAHEIM >> In a highly publicized incident last season, Calgary star Johnny Gaudreau’s finger was broken by Minnesota’s Eric Staal with a well-placed hard slash of his stick. Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, the NHL’s preeminent face, took it up a notch by chopping open the digit of Ottawa’s Marc Methot.

THOUSAND OAKS >> Like any good defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips anticipated Tuesday’s attack. “What’s wrong with the run defense, right?” Phillips deadpanned, moments after he reached the podium to start his weekly news conference.

PHILADELPHIA >> Dave Roberts must be a patient man. But the ongoing slumps of Yasmani Grandal and Curtis Granderson are surely trying that patience – the .053 average (2 for 38) in September that Grandal took into Tuesday’s game, in particular.

ANAHEIM >> As the Angels try to claw into the playoffs for the first time since 2014, they were bitten by a remnant of that last postseason team. Trying to add depth to the bullpen for the playoff run three years ago, the Angels made a minor trade to get Vinnie Pestano from the Cleveland Indians.

CARSON >> Close, but not enough. On Sunday, the Chargers played their first regular-season NFL game at StubHub Center. They trailed the Dolphins for less than 10 minutes. They averaged nearly 2 more yards per play.

UCLA (2-1, 0-0 Pac-12) at Stanford (1-2, 0-1 Pac-12) When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday Where: Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto TV/Radio: ESPN, AM-570 UCLA update: The Bruins are coming off their first loss of the season, a 48-45 upset at the hands of Memphis, as the defense gave up a season-high 560 yards.

ANAHEIM >> The Angels’ 4-2 loss to the Texas Rangers on Sunday was marked by a handful of those “almost” moments that didn’t go their way. The Angels slipped to two games behind the Minnesota Twins in the wild-card race, with 13 to play, following an afternoon of near-misses.

LOS ANGELES >> One of Rams coach Sean McVay’s proteges made game-winning plays Sunday. The other? Well, maybe he’s getting there, but the progress is a bit halting Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins did exactly what McVay once trained him to do: drive 70 yards in the fourth quarter of a tie game, and win it.

LIONS AT GIANTS Kickoff: 5:30 p.m., ESPN Outlook: Did we underestimate the Lions? It’s hard to say just yet. After surprisingly stomping the Cardinals last week, the Lions now have a chance to make a statement on a national stage.

ANAHEIM >> Although the Angels aren’t about to take the pitch limit off Garrett Richards, he said he’s ready. “In my mind, I’m ready for 100 pitches,” Richards said after throwing 74 in five innings on Sunday.

ANAHEIM >> Drawing the task of playing defense alongside partner Cam Fowler in this Ducks training camp, Andy Welinski is trying his best to not let his mind roam into what that might mean. “They tell us to not look into stuff like that,” Welinski said Sunday to being put alongside last year’s All-Star blue-liner.

Given another opportunity to win, Marc Leishman didn’t give anyone much of a chance in the BMW Championship. Staked to a five-shot lead, Leishman made back-to-back birdies late in the final round Sunday to put away the final challenge, then closed with a birdie for a 4-under 67 to set the tournament record at Lake Forest, Illinois.

When last season ended, one arm of the Kings organization immediately began the search for a new coach, president and general manager. Another arm simultaneously launched into its own extensive project, planning the first ever NHL games in China.

PHOENIX >> Candace Parker’s driving layup with 2.9 seconds to play gave the Sparks an 89-87 win and three-game sweep of the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA semifinals Sunday. Parker finished with 21 points and 11 assists.

WASHINGTON >> With their magic number shrinking daily now, the Dodgers could very well celebrate the clinching of their fifth consecutive NL West title during this week’s four-game series at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

MEMPHIS >> It took one snap for Darrell Henderson to set the tone for the Memphis offense last Saturday. One play, 80 yards, a slew of UCLA defenders grasping at air as the Memphis running back streaked down the field at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on Memphis’ first play from scrimmage of its 48-45 win over UCLA.